linking kites

[KevinR]

Hi Everybody,

New guy here and my question may seem a little odd to some, but I didn't know where else to ask.

I would like to attempt to fly several different shapes and styles of kites on a single line. I.E. a Peacock shape kite, followed by a standard flat kite, etc

I'm not looking to do the standard "TRAIN" effect.

Can any describe the best way to connect them? Should I use the smallest at the end of the line, rather than the biggest, so on and so on.

Thanks for any and all advise. I have 2 1/2 days to figure this out.

[windofchange]

I don't understand what you mean by the standard "TRAIN" effect....to my knowledge you really only have two ways of stacking kites on a line.

Option 1 - connect them all together off of one single line to form an arch

Option 2 - connect them in a daisy chain - one after the other - to form a train.

In your post, you mention that you desire to put at least one kite on the end of the line, this leads me to believe that you want to train them together. If so then put your largest and best lifting kite on the end of the line and then hook all other kites via carabiner or other method to the line wherever you wish. Your end kite would be a sky anchor which will hold the line and all other items off of it. Everything else would fly off of that single line. If you put the smallest kite on the end or if the end kite is not capable of holding up all the other kites, the larger kites down the line will end up pulling the line away and down from the top kite and they won't fly or look properly.

Here is a page that explains a pilot or lifter kite and how to attach it. The pilot would actually be your largest kite at the end of the line:

Gomberg Pilot Page

Hope that helps, if that is not what you were asking then please let us know more details and we can help you out.

[John Barresi]

I'd have to agree with Kent... For such a wide variety of shapes and types, a pilot kite above it all might serve you best.

[KevinR]

Hi Windsofchange,

I believe that is what I was looking for. Thanks for the advise. When I said "Train", I had seen pictures of the exact same shape and size kites stacked in a row with the string running through them to form the "train" so I was under the impression that was the name of that particular style. I wasn't aware that implied to multiple kites on the same line.

I'm including a rough example of what I'm looking to do as oppssed to what I understood a train to be.

Once again, THANK YOU for your help.

Kevin

[KevinR]

I also forgot to ask....... What would be the best length for the leader strings to the individual kites from the MAIN string? I'll be flying these at the beach, so there will be a good breeze all day.

Thanks in advance.

Kevin

[windofchange]

Length of string all depends on the kites you will be flying. It will usually vary from kite to kite so no one length is used as a "standard". That's all the fun though, hook the kites up, launch them in the air and then if you see a problem, pull the line down while the others are flying, fix it and relaunch again. You can spend hours playing with line laundry which is all part of the fun factor.

When I am flying some of my giants thats what we do is constantly change out line laundry all day long to paint the sky different colors. Large bowls, other kites, tails, streamers, banners....its all fun and there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to fly them all.

Let your creative personality run wild with it and have fun.

One thing to mention is that your drawings/pics you posted are both considered trains, but in your first picture with the different sized kits the kites will usually fly behind the main flying line and not in front of it. The only way that a kite will be flying in front of the line is if the kite on the top has a huge amount of drag compared to the kite in the front. This will usually cause flying issues but once again, thats just part of the fun - finding out which kites fly where and how to get them all up and flying at the same time.

Warning though.....this type of activity can lead to the uncontrollable urge to purchase larger anchor kites and tons of streamers, tails, bowls, banners, flags and anything else that requires long lengths of ripstop nylon. :)

[KevinR]

Thanks again for the input. I am guessing that this would be more correct then? I was thinking the lower kites would interfere with the main line leading to the biggest / anchor kite. Or does the largest kite need to be the lowest?

[windofchange]

In almost every scenario I have ever done or seen, the largest kite is the anchor kite (top kite, highest in the sky). Even though all the other kites will be flying, they will all hang off of the main line which needs to be hoisted up by the largest and most powerful kite. To realize this, picture a balloon floating in the air and anchored on the ground, then put a fan blowing against balloon and string...then put a large paper plate/bowl in the center of the line from the ground to the balloon so that it is totally flat and catches the wind from the fan. The plate/bowl will have so much drag that it will pull the balloon back to where nothing will stay up and the plate/bowl will just land on the ground. Now replace the balloon with a large RC helicopter (or two dozen+ helium balloons) and do the same, if the helicopter/bunch of balloons have enough lifting power it will hold the plate/bowl up no problem even if the fan increases.

As far as which one goes where, the only way to know for sure is to just hook em up and fly. But your second picture is more correct as to how any of my trains have ever flown. As stated above, the only issue you may have is if your anchor kite (top kite) ends up flying at a very low angle of attack and all of your other kites like to fly at a very high angle of attack, then you may run into the situation like your first picture - but I don't think that will happen because they will all be flying in the same wind and coming from the same anchor point...and the angles of attack would need to be on the extreme opposite of each other to be an issue.

Rig em up and get a picture for all of us to enjoy....and have some fun!

[John Barresi]

Kent has given some very good information above, but you might also try posting your question(s) on the Kitebuilder.com forums, lots of very experienced single line fliers there... I'm sure someone there has had first hand experience with this type of project... I'd love to hear about your progress though, and see some photos of the finished project.